Walt Whitman Quotes (160 Quotes)

Judging from the main portions of the history of the world, so far, justice is always in jeopardy.

Be curious, not judgmental.

Sail Forth- Steer for the deep waters only. Reckless O soul, exploring. I with thee and thou with me. For we are bound where mariner has not yet dared go. And we will risk the ship, ourselves, and all.

A Song of the good green grass A song no more of the city streets A song of farms a song of the soil of fields. A song with the smell of sundried hay, where the nimble pitchers handle the pitchfork A song tasting of new wheat, and of freshhusk'd maize.

I exist as I am, that is enough.

The great city is that which has the greatest man or woman: if it be a few ragged huts, it is still the greatest city in the whole world.

And your very flesh shall be a great poem.

I cannot be awake for nothing looks to me as it did before, Or else I am awake for the first time, and all before has been a mean sleep.

After you have exhausted what there is in business, politics, conviviality, and so on - have found that none of these finally satisfy, or permanently wear - what remains? Nature remains.

There can be no theory of any account unless it corroborate with the theory of the earth

To the real artist in humanity, what are called bad manners are often the most picturesque and significant of all.

I cannot too often repeat that Democracy is a word the real gist of which still sleeps, quite unawakened, notwithstanding the resonance and the many angry tempests out of which its syllables have come, from pen or tongue. It is a great word, whose history, I suppose, remains unwritten because that history has yet to be enacted.

There is no object so soft but it makes a hub for the wheeled universe.

A great city is that which has the greatest men and women.

Love the earth and sun and animals, Despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks, Stand up for the stupid and crazy, Devote your income and labor to others ... And your very flesh shall be a great poem.

Seasons pursuing each other the indescribable crowd is gathered, it is the fourth of Seventh-month, (what salutes of cannon and small arms)

The poet judges not as a judge judges but as the sun falling around a helpless thing

Re-examine all you have been told ... Dismiss what insults your Soul.

If any thing is sacred, the human body is sacred.

I accept reality and dare not question it.

I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.

Our leading men are not of much account and never have been, but the average of the people is immense, beyond all history. Sometimes I think in all departments, literature and art included, that will be the way our superiority will exhibit itself. We will not have great individuals or great leaders, but a great average bulk, unprecedentedly great.

A morning-glory at my window satisfies me more than the metaphysics of books.

What a devil art thou, Poverty How many desires - how many aspirations after goodness and truth - how many noble thoughts, loving wishes toward our fellows, beautiful imaginings thou hast crushed under thy heel, without remorse or pause

I heard what was said of the universe, heard it and heard it of several thousand years; it is middling well as far as it goes - but is that all?

Where are your combing seas, your blue water, your rollers, your breakers, your whales, or your waterspouts, and your endless motion, in this bit of a forest, child.

All faults may be forgiven of him who has perfect candor.

The beautiful uncut hair of graves.

The art of art, the glory of expression and the sunshine of the light of letters, is simplicity.

When I give, I give myself.

Youth, large, lusty, loving - Youth, full of grace, force, fascination. Do you know that Old Age may come after you with equal grace, force, fascination

A woman waits for me, she contains all, nothing lacking.

The future is no more uncertain than the present.

Camerado This is no book who touches this touches a man.

I no doubt deserved my enemies, but I don't believe I deserved my friends.

I am the man, I suffered, I was there.

Lovebuds, put before you and within you, whoever you are, Buds to be unfolded on the old terms If you bring the warmth of the sun to them, they will open, and bring form, color, perfume, to you If you become the aliment and the wet, they will become flowers, fruits, tall blanches and trees.

There is no week nor day nor hour when tyranny may not enter upon this country, if the people lose their roughness and spirit of defiance.

Have you learned the lessons only of those who admired you, and were tender with you, and stood aside for you? Have you not learned great lessons from those who braced themselves against you, and disputed passage with you?

In the faces of men and women I see God.

Freedom - to walk free and own no superior.

To die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier.

The real war will never get in the books.

The damp of the night drives deeper into my soul.

Whatever satisfies the soul is truth.

Henceforth I ask not good fortune. I myself am good fortune.

I say to mankind, Be not curious about God. For I, who am curious about each, am not curious about God - I hear and behold God in every object, yet understand God not in the least.

Viewed freely, the English language is the accretion and growth of every dialect, race, and range of time, and is both the free and compacted composition of all.

Other lands have their vitality in a few, a class, but we have it in the bulk of our people.

Now I see the secret of making the best person: it is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth.